


Well, There's an Awful Lot of Swimming

by furyspook



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Agender Character, Alternate Universe - Lifeguards, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Trans Male Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 02:48:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6220606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/furyspook/pseuds/furyspook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hawke picks up a stray on the beach and Fenris is charmed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Well, There's an Awful Lot of Swimming

**Author's Note:**

> there are a hell of a lot of fenders fics about the ocean recently, huh?  
> can't tell you how often this'll update, but i'm going to try to Finish A Fic.  
> this is also going to be like an experiment for me-- i haven't written anything in a while and i'm going to be playing around with my style as i go, seeing what works and all that. i'll try to keep it somewhat cohesive. thank you for reading!

Lifetimes pass, Fenris thought, where people try to capture the beauty of the sea in their writing, their painting, their photography. Lifetimes pass where people try to explain the grace and power of the ocean, and all it took to completely obliterate that image was Garret Hawke’s ass as they tried to jerk their swim trunks back onto their hips.

 

There was a storm on the horizon that morning when he found Hawke on his porch, Merrill in the front passenger seat of their car, asking with those puppy-dog eyes if Fenris might have wanted to join them at the beach. Of course he’d mentioned the weather, which Hawke had dismissed without a thought.

 

“The cold air will just mean the water’s warmer in comparison.” They’d said.

 

Fenris tucked his feet further underneath himself, pulled his legs closer to his torso to keep them out of the wind but as they came in contact with his soaked t-shirt he wondered if this wasn’t worse. He’d gone swimming for a while, but the cold soon became too much and he returned to their towels.

 

“Fen! Fenris!” Hawke called, and the man in question glanced up just in time to see them toppling backwards into an oncoming wave, Merrill screeching out a laugh on their shoulders. Merrill managed to keep her head above the water, but when Hawke reappeared they were mopping seawater from their eyes and throwing hair out of their face. Fenris’ lips quirked up in a smile. “Fenris, come swimming with us!”

 

“Oh, yes, it’s a lot of fun!” Merrill chimed in, then, crouching down in the shallows to keep her shoulders out of the wind.

 

In place of an answer Fenris wormed one arm out from under the towel, brandishing a book he’d brought along. Hawke booed, but the sound was cut off abruptly as a large wave crashed over their head.

 

“Hawke?” Fenris said, voice raised to be heard over both the water and the howl of the wind, “Perhaps we should call it a day? The water is only going to get rougher.”

 

Hawke waved the comment off and returned to their antics, but it seemed his words gave Merrill pause. She stopped her paddling, suddenly, and looked to the overcast sky as if seeing it for the first time. Her eyes bulged. She said something too quiet for Fenris to hear and tossed another look over her shoulder. Hawke didn’t seem to like what she said, but Merrill started towards the shore anyway. She ran to their spot when the cold hit her and snatched up her towel from the ground with no regard for the sand.

 

Merrill stood over Fenris and watched Hawke in the water for a number of seconds before she gave in and sat down to huddle in a similar fashion.

 

“Hey!”

 

Both Fenris and Merrill’s heads snapped around to find the source of the voice. The man who approached them wore a hoodie which announced him as a lifeguard. Merrill quirked an ear in his direction. “Oh, hello! Is something the matter?”

 

The lifeguard stopped just short of their towels and turned his eyes to Hawke in the water. His nose, Fenris noted, was almost hawkish itself. “No, no problem,” He returned, “But we’re closing the beach, and I’d recommend you leave before the waves get much worse. Hell of a storm coming.”

 

Fenris nodded, following the other’s line of sight. “Hawke!”

 

The other paused-- and they appeared to have been shoveling sand out of their pockets --shouted, “What?”

 

“We need to leave-- they’re closing the beach!” Merrill had already started to pack away their things, keeping one hand clutched tightly in the front of her towel while she tried to pick up their belongings with the other. Fenris made to assist her, standing and kicking a second towel out from under himself, but Hawke stood for a moment longer in the breakers.

 

“You don’t think I’m going to need to go get him, do you?” The lifeguard asked, arms crossed tightly across his chest. Conserving warmth. Fenris should’ve brought a hoodie.

 

“No, Hawke is coming. _They_ are just coming very slowly.”

 

The man winced, what Fenris took to be an apology. “Hawke?” He asked, and Fenris nodded tersely. The man then spun on his heel and shouted with an incredible amount of authority, “ _Hawke!_ Get out of the water before I go in there and make you!”

 

It was very forward of a stranger, and a professional. Fenris blinked, Merrill blinked, and Hawke barked out a laugh as they walked out onto the shore. They hurried to grab a towel from the bag Merrill had just finished packing and threw it around their shoulders. Always one for theatrics they set their own teeth chattering and huddled in close to Fenris.

 

“It’s _freezing_ out here!” They said, as if Fenris had been huddling out here on the shore for the past half-hour for fun.

 

“All the more reason to leave, then.” The lifeguard readjusted his grip on his sleeves, bouncing a bit on the balls of his feet. Fenris helped Merrill lift their things before taking the bag completely in his arms. She nodded to him gratefully and pulled one of Hawke’s arms over her shoulder. Her face disappeared behind their towel.

 

“Why open the beach at all, if the storm was on the weather this morning?” Hawke asked suddenly, and Fenris grunted as if to remind them that he was still hefting about a large bag of their things. They ignored him, watching the lifeguard curiously. Fenris turned his exasperated glare on the other man, willing him to speak quickly.

 

The lifeguard was, thank the Maker, ready with an answer. He flipped hair from his face and said, “I only know my hours.”

 

Hawke didn’t seem happy with that answer, but after Fenris very casually beat his own head against their shoulder they nodded. “I’m Hawke, it was nice meeting you.”

 

“Anders.” The lifeguard replied, offering a short nod. From somewhere up the shore a car horn sounded, and he whipped his head around. “I’ve got to go before she leaves without me-- Good to meet you!”

 

He tore off across the beach, and Hawke watched him go with a peculiar look on their face, one Fenris knew to be their ‘I’m keeping that one’ face. Some small part of him was endeared to the man as well.

 

“Hawke.” He said, pulling them from their thoughts.

  
“It’s _freezing!_ Fenris, are you coming?” And they started to make their way towards the parking lot as well. They walked slowly, trying to give Merrill the chance to get her footing without unwrapping her from their arms. Fenris rolled his eyes and followed quickly after them.


End file.
